Tim Paine and Rishabh Pant’s humorous exchanges caught on the stump microphone have brought comic relief in a tense series during which India and Australia are fighting for honours.
Among other things, the cheeky Indian wicket-keeper called his Australian counterpart a “temporary captain”, rubbing it into him that he is leading the side only because Steve Smith is serving a 12-month ban over last year’s ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.
On the other hand, Paine taunted Pant after he was dropped from the Indian ODI side, saying maybe he could babysit for him while he takes his wife to the movies.
But all seems to have ended on a happy note after Pant met Paine’s wife, Bonnie, and their two toddlers during a function in Sydney attended by both teams.
After the meeting, Bonnie Paine posted a picture on Instagram, describing Pant as the “best babysitter”. Pant is seen holding one of the kids and smiling broadly, indicating his animosity with Paine is now a thing of the past.
In one of the exchanges, Paine tried to lure India’s keeper to sign with the Hobart Hurricanes.
“Big MS [Dhoni] is back in the one-day squad too, we might get him [Pant] down to the Hurricanes... we need a batter,” Paine was heard saying over the stump microphone during the Boxing Day Test.
“Fancy that, Pantsy? Extend your little Aussie holiday. Beautiful town Hobart too. I’ll get you a nice apartment on the waterfront.
“[I’ll] have him over for dinner. Can you babysit? I’ll take the wife to the movies one night and you’ll look after the kids?”
The exchange was thoroughly enjoyed by cricket lovers and was very entertaining to say the least.